A Seminar Presentation On ……

CELL CULTURE MEDIA AND

GROWTH FACTORS

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Introduction :
 Animal cell culture basically involves the in vitro
maintenance and propagation of animal cells in a suitable
nutrient media.

 Culturing is a process of growing cells artificially

 selection of an appropriate growth medium for the in vitro

cultivation of cells is the important and essential step.

 the choice of the medium mostly depends on the type of the

cells to be cultured, and the purpose of the culture (growth,
differentiation, production of desired products).
 Animal cells need either a completely natural medium, or an
artificial medium supplemented with some natural products.

Culture Media

Natural media Artificial media

Natural media
 In the early years, natural media obtained from various
biological sources were used.
 Body fluid: plasma, serum, lymph, amniotic fluid, etc
These fluids are tested for sterility and toxicity before their
utility.

 Tissue extract: among the tissue extract chick embryo extract

was most commonly employed. The extract of liver, spleen,
bone marrow and leucocytes also used as culture media.

 Plasma clots have been in use for a long time and are now
available commercially.

 Bovine embryo extract prepared from bovine embryos of

different age ( up to 10 days).
Artificial media
 The artificial media containing partly defined components.
The minimal criteria needed for choosing a media for animal
cell culture are listed below:
<>The medium should provide all the nutrients to the cell.
<>Maintain the physiological pH around 7 with adequate
buffering.
<>The medium must be sterile, and isotonic to the cells.

The basis for the cell culture media was the balanced salt
solution - used to create a physiological pH and osmolarity
required to maintain the cell in vitro.
 For promoting growth and proliferation of cells, various
constituents were added and several media developed.
Eg: serum containing media and serum-free media.

Artifical medium
 Physio-Chemical Properties of
Culture Media:
 The culture media is expected to possess certain
physiochemical properties ( pH, Oxygen, carbon dioxide,
buffering, osmolality, viscosity, temp., etc…) to support good
growth and proliferation of cultured cells.

 pH:
Normally most cells can grow at pH in the range 7-7.4,
although there are slight variations depending on the type of
cells.
The indicator phenol red is commonly used for visible
detection of pH in the media.
 Carbon dioxide, Bicarbonate and Buffering:

 Carbon dioxide in the medium is in a dissolved state and the

concentration depends on the atmospheric carbon dioxide
tension and temperature

 Carbon dioxide in the medium exists as carbonic acid and

HCO3 and H+ ions.
CO2 + H2O ———› H2CO3 ‹—————›H+ + HCO3ˉ
Concentration of carbon dioxide, bicarbonate and pH are
interrelated.
By increasing the atmospheric carbon dioxide, the pH will be
reduced making the medium acidic.
 Addition of sodium bicarbonate ( as the component of
bicarbonate buffer) neutralize bicarbonate ions.

 The presence of pyruvate in the medium results in the increased

endogenous production of carbon dioxide by the cells.

 This is advantageous since the dependence of oxogenous supply

of carbon dioxide and bicarbonate will be less. In such case, the
buffering can achieved by high concentration.
 Oxygen:
 The scale up of animal cell culture is very dependent up on the
ability to supply sufficient oxygen without causing cell
damage.

 Oxygen is only sparingly soluble in culture media.

 Cultured cells mostly rely on the dissolved O2 in the medium

which may be toxic at high concentration due to the generation
of free radicals.
adequate quantities of O2 must be supplied so that the cellular
requirements are met avoiding toxic affects.
 Free radicals scavengers {glutathione} are sometimes added
to nullify the toxicity.

 Addition of selenium to the medium is also advocated to

reduce O2 toxicity. [selenium - cofactor for synthesis of
glutathione]

 Glycolysis occurring in cultured cell is more anaerobic when

compared to in vivo cells and the depth of culture medium
influence the rate of O2 diffusion [range 2-5mm]
 Temperature:
 Animal cells are sensitive to temperature higher than 37c
[Culture from birds- 38.5c, Cool blooded animals - 15-25c}

 Aqueous solution has low thermal conductivity and with a low

co reaction rate in animal cell culture due to gentle mixing,
high temperature gradient may occur with heating

 Low gradient heating systems mostly based on the water

jacked principle and with a high surface area are favorable.
In a compact loop bioreactor this can be achieved by using a
thermo stated draught tube.

 Besides directly influencing growth of cells, temperature also

affects the solubility of O2 [Higher temperature enhances
solubility ]
 Osmolality:
 Osmolality for most of the cultured cells is in the range of
260-320mosm/kg,comparable to the osmolality of human
plasma (290mosm/kg)

 Once an osmolality is selected for a medium it must be

maintained at that level [+/-10mosm/kg]

 When ever there is an addition of acids, bases ,drugs etc .to the
medium osmolality alters and is measured using Osmometer
Point Osmometer:
 SERUM MEDIA
 Although natural media are very useful and convenient for a
wide range of cases, they suffer from the disadvantages of
poor reproductability due to lack of knowledge of exact
composition.

 Reasons 4 using synthetic media:

*Media for Immediate survival.

*Media for Prolonged survival.

*Media for Indefinite growth.

*Media for Specialized functions.

 For the immediate survival, a “balanced diet” solution with
defined osmotic pressure and pH is added. {Combination of
inorganic salts and glucose}

 For long survival, serum may be used or the balanced

sat solution may be supplemented with amino acids, O2,
vitamins, and serum proteins

 MEM-Minimum Essential Medium [Eagles 1955]

-used for mammalian cell culture

 Role of serum in culture is extremely complex and contains

mixture of many large and small biomolecules {growth
promoting and growth inhibitory factors}
 Function of serum:

 Basic nutrient in solution and bound to proteins

 Hormones and growth factors stimulating cell growth and

specialized functions

 Attachment and spreading factor

 Binding proteins (albumin) carrying hormones vitamins

minerals lipids etc

 Non specific protection factors against mechanical damage

and viscosity

 pH buffer
 Disadvantage:

 Serum may contain inadequate levels of cell-specific GF

which have been supplemented and an over abundance of
others which may be cytotoxic.

 Risk of contamination with virus fungi and mycoplasma

 SERUM FREE MEDIA
 Due to some disadvantages associated with the use of serum in
media ,Serum Free media have been developed

Disadvantages of Serum in Media

Variable Composition – there is no uniformity in the composition
of serum (highly variable)

Quality Control – to maintain uniform quality of the serum

special testes need to be performed with each batch of serum
before its use

Contamination – very difficult to get serum from virus

contamination
Presence of Growth Inhibitors - in some cases growth
inhibitors like TGF-may dominate and inhibits cell
proliferation

Availability and cost - availability is restricted due to its

dependence on cattle

Down stream processing - presence of serum in the culture

medium interferes with the isolation and purification of cell
culture products. For this reason additional steps are needed
for the isolation
Serum Free Media :
 Advantage and Disadvantage of
Serum Free Media
 ADVANTAGE :

*Selection of media with defined composition-

Main advantage of serum free media is to control growth of
the cells as desired with a well defined medium.

*Regulation of differentiation –
It is possible to use a set of factors to achieve differentiation
of cells with the desired and specialized functions
 DISADVANTAGE:

*Slow cell proliferation:

*Need for Multiple media:

*Purity of reagents:

*Availability and cost:

[Costly than serum media as they use pure chemicals which
are expensive ]
 GROWTH FACTORS

A large number of Growth Factors that promote in vitro

proliferation and differentiation have been developed.
They act synergistically or additively with each other or with
other factors

HORMONES : Growth hormones –insulin and hydrocortisone

are the most commonly added in to the serum free medium
A combination of steroid hormones hydrocortisone, estrogen
and androgen are used for maintaining mammary epithelium

NUTRIENTS : cholin, ethanol amine , linolic acid, iron copper,

selenium etc., are added
 PROTEINS : Bovine serum albumin [BSA] is the most
commonly added protein. It promote cell survival and growth

 POLYAMINES : promote cellular growth and differentiation

 PROTEASE INHIBITORS : for trypsin mediated subculture

Growth Factors With Serum containing Media :

 Platelet-derived GF [PDGF]

 Fibroblast GF [FGF]

 Epidermal GF [EGF]

 Vascular Endothelial GF [VEGF]

 Insulin GF [IGF-1, IGF-2]

ANY
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